“Yuki!”
Yuki turns and smiles at her friends as they come walking towards her.
“Hey you two!”
She waits for her two friends to catch up before they start walking together to school.
“So Yuki, you ready for that test today in Chemistry?”
Yuki looks at her friend in surprise.
“That’s today?”
The brunette, Rika, nods her head.
“Yup, it’s been on the board for a week now.”
Yuki groans and runs her fingers through her dark brown hair.
“Why does it have to be today…”
Her friends lightly laugh and the three enter the school building.
“Well, at least you’ve got some time until then. Third period is still a few hours away.”
Yuki nods her head and waves to another friend by her locker.
“Hey Kano.”
Kano waves back.
“Morning Yuki.”
Kano opens her locker and begins gathering her things together for her class.
“So, are you going to study or just blow it off like you usually do?”
Yuki looks back at her blonde friend, Miu.
“I’ll look it over and see if I think I can manage it.”
Yuki’s two friends lightly laugh, knowing that means she’ll blow it off.
“Well, I’ll see you guys later.”
“All right, see you later Yuki.”
They wave and part ways to their classes.
Yuki takes a seat at her desk and pulls out the list of things that’s going to be covered on the Chemistry test. She groans lightly at the very small amount of concepts she understood well.
“No point in studying. There’s no way I’ll understand enough of them in time.”
She puts the list away and pulls out her stuff for her first class.
After school, she meets up with her two friends and the three walk home together.
“So, were we right?”
Yuki looks at the brunette.
“Right about what, Rika?”
Rika smiles.
“That you just blew off studying for the test.”
Yuki bites her lip.
“Aha, we were right.”
The two friends laugh at Yuki, who starts to pout.
“Will you two stop it?”
Her two friends just laugh more.
“You know we’re just playing with you.”
Yuki sighs and smiles slightly.
“Yeah, but you don’t have to rub it in.”
“Hey Miu, we’re still going shopping Friday night, right?”
The blonde nods.
“Yup. I was thinking that afterwards, we can go someplace for some karaoke.”
Rika smiles brightly.
“That sounds like a great idea!”
Yuki nods.
“Yeah, that would be a lot of fun.”
Miu looks at Yuki.
“Invite Kano will you? You know her best, and I’d like her to come along.”
“Sure, she’d enjoy it. She doesn’t get out all that much, since her mother’s been ill.”
Miu nods in response.
The three stop at a fork in the road.
“Well, see you tomorrow.”
Yuki waves as she goes down the left hand path and the others take the right hand path. As she walks, her thoughts go to what’ll happen on Friday.
“Oh, I just can’t wait for it.”
Walking along the tops of houses is a figure in all black, watching her and studying her. It follows her to her house and watches her go inside. The front door closes behind her and the figure waits a few minutes before continuing on.
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Chapter 2
Friday night and the four girls go out shopping together in some of the department stores found throughout the town. They chat and browse, laugh and praise, make faces and dress up in everything that was available.
“What do you think of this?”
The others shake their heads.
“Too gaudy.”
“Doesn’t suit you at all.”
“No way.”
“You guys are no fun.”
Laughter ensues from the others and the process continues.
After a few hours, they leave the department stores and head to a karaoke establishment. The four take turns and do song duets to various pop and theme songs. They laugh and clap their hands along to the beat of the music. Every once in a while, one of them would miss the words and all four would start laughing, missing the rest of the song.
The time passes and they leave the store, laughing and being very merry.
Yuki says, “That was fun.”
The other three girls nod.
Miu looks at Kano.
“Did you enjoy yourself?”
Kano nods energetically.
“Yes, it’s been a long time since I could just have fun.”
The four part ways shortly after, Yuki walking alone to the south. She takes a casual gait, enjoying the brisk night air of autumn.
While in the housing district she lives in, she becomes aware of something following her. She looks back and doesn’t see anyone behind her. She shakes it from her mind, but finds the sense has not gone away. Beginning to freak out, she looks around her. Still unable to find the source of her uneasiness, she walks at a quicker pace.
She catches the glimpse of a shadow on the ground and looks up to see a figure hidden in black pacing her on the rooftops. She screams, in fright and surprise. Scared witless, she runs as fast as she can ahead towards her house. Tears begin to form and fall from her eyes, being left behind in the air by her frenzy race.
Her foot catches on something and she yells as she falls towards the ground. Before touching the ground, she is grabbed and held up. She turns and sees a man in all black with his left arm holding her stomach up. Her eyes widen in fear as he begins to lift her off the ground.
“Let me go!”
The man ignores her when she hits his arm with her fists. He sets her back on her feet and looks at her eyes. Even from behind the sunglasses he had on, she can see the fire held in his eyes.
“Do be more careful.”
The man flatly says to her. Yuki pulls back, still afraid of the dark aura he emanated.
“Stop being such a weakling. Now come on, your father has something to speak to you about.”
Without another word, the man lets her go and starts walking in the direction of her house.
“Who are you?”
Her voice trembles as her body quivers.
The man looks back at her, a glimpse of emerald coming from behind the sunglasses when he turned his head.
“You’ll find out when you get home. Now let’s go.”
She suddenly felt compelled to follow him, and her body complied without any input from her. Her breath becomes quick and shallow as she finds her body moving under someone else’s will.
“What are you doing?”
The man ignores the question and lets her walk onward.
“May I help you?”
The man asks, closing his eyes in annoyance. A young man in his late teens comes up to the man in the trench coat.
“What are you doing to her?”
The dark man smiles and turns to confront the youth.
“Escorting her home.”
The teen readies himself into a fighting stance, his weight on his right foot with the left extended and both hands raised.
“She doesn’t need you to do it. Now leave her alone.”
The man laughs and lets a feral grin onto his face.
“She’s my responsibility.”
The youth charges towards the man and finds him suddenly behind him.
“And as she’s my responsibility, it’ll be advisable for you to go home while you’re still alive.”
The youth launches an attack and sees it hit only open air as the man had disappeared.
The youth yells in surprise as he’s lifted backwards into the air.
“Now then, drop it or die.”
The youth brings his legs to kick the man, but before it comes close to striking, his neck was snapped and his body went limp. The body hits the ground as the man lets him go.
“I told you to drop it.”
Silently, he runs off after Yuki.
“What do you think of this?”
The others shake their heads.
“Too gaudy.”
“Doesn’t suit you at all.”
“No way.”
“You guys are no fun.”
Laughter ensues from the others and the process continues.
After a few hours, they leave the department stores and head to a karaoke establishment. The four take turns and do song duets to various pop and theme songs. They laugh and clap their hands along to the beat of the music. Every once in a while, one of them would miss the words and all four would start laughing, missing the rest of the song.
The time passes and they leave the store, laughing and being very merry.
Yuki says, “That was fun.”
The other three girls nod.
Miu looks at Kano.
“Did you enjoy yourself?”
Kano nods energetically.
“Yes, it’s been a long time since I could just have fun.”
The four part ways shortly after, Yuki walking alone to the south. She takes a casual gait, enjoying the brisk night air of autumn.
While in the housing district she lives in, she becomes aware of something following her. She looks back and doesn’t see anyone behind her. She shakes it from her mind, but finds the sense has not gone away. Beginning to freak out, she looks around her. Still unable to find the source of her uneasiness, she walks at a quicker pace.
She catches the glimpse of a shadow on the ground and looks up to see a figure hidden in black pacing her on the rooftops. She screams, in fright and surprise. Scared witless, she runs as fast as she can ahead towards her house. Tears begin to form and fall from her eyes, being left behind in the air by her frenzy race.
Her foot catches on something and she yells as she falls towards the ground. Before touching the ground, she is grabbed and held up. She turns and sees a man in all black with his left arm holding her stomach up. Her eyes widen in fear as he begins to lift her off the ground.
“Let me go!”
The man ignores her when she hits his arm with her fists. He sets her back on her feet and looks at her eyes. Even from behind the sunglasses he had on, she can see the fire held in his eyes.
“Do be more careful.”
The man flatly says to her. Yuki pulls back, still afraid of the dark aura he emanated.
“Stop being such a weakling. Now come on, your father has something to speak to you about.”
Without another word, the man lets her go and starts walking in the direction of her house.
“Who are you?”
Her voice trembles as her body quivers.
The man looks back at her, a glimpse of emerald coming from behind the sunglasses when he turned his head.
“You’ll find out when you get home. Now let’s go.”
She suddenly felt compelled to follow him, and her body complied without any input from her. Her breath becomes quick and shallow as she finds her body moving under someone else’s will.
“What are you doing?”
The man ignores the question and lets her walk onward.
“May I help you?”
The man asks, closing his eyes in annoyance. A young man in his late teens comes up to the man in the trench coat.
“What are you doing to her?”
The dark man smiles and turns to confront the youth.
“Escorting her home.”
The teen readies himself into a fighting stance, his weight on his right foot with the left extended and both hands raised.
“She doesn’t need you to do it. Now leave her alone.”
The man laughs and lets a feral grin onto his face.
“She’s my responsibility.”
The youth charges towards the man and finds him suddenly behind him.
“And as she’s my responsibility, it’ll be advisable for you to go home while you’re still alive.”
The youth launches an attack and sees it hit only open air as the man had disappeared.
The youth yells in surprise as he’s lifted backwards into the air.
“Now then, drop it or die.”
The youth brings his legs to kick the man, but before it comes close to striking, his neck was snapped and his body went limp. The body hits the ground as the man lets him go.
“I told you to drop it.”
Silently, he runs off after Yuki.
Chapter 3
“Yuki!”
Her father calls as she enters the living room with the man in all black behind her. Yuki’s father looks at the man.
“Jen, release her.”
The man snorts lightly and closes his eyes while crossing his arms.
“Fine.”
Yuki feels a tingle run through her body as she suddenly becomes able to move on her own. Now being able to move, she runs to her father, holding a white knuckled grip of his shirt.
“Who is he, father?”
Her father, Saije, puts an arm around his daughter.
“This is Jen Ide, Yuki. He is the family protector since the time of your grandfather’s grandfather. He has watched over the eldest of the children, protecting us from physical harm.”
Yuki’s expression showing her lack of understanding.
“I don’t understand it. Why is he protecting us?”
Saije pulls out a small gold ball on a looped piece of string.
“Because he swore to so he can have this returned to him.”
He holds it out to her. Yuki picks it up and looks at it, seeing not a mark on it aside from a small spot that had been made to allow it to be put on the string.
“But, what is this?”
She turns it from one side to the other. Jen grits his teeth and sulks at having to go through this again.
“It’s a star ball. It holds a great deal of my power, and its absence is most annoying.”
The anger rising within him at having to suffer this humiliation.
Yuki looks confused at Jen.
“Star ball? I’ve never heard of anything like it. It certainly doesn’t look like a star.”
Jen grinds his teeth and does his best not to go over to her and rip her head off.
“That’s what it’s called, okay? You seriously haven’t paid any attention to your mythology, have you.”
Yuki frowns at him.
“Why should I have? It’s not like the myths have any truth to them.”
Without warning, Jen turns around and his clothes fall to the ground. A creature leaps out of the descending bundle of black clothing and stands proudly on its four feet. Seeing the white fox-like animal with nine waving tails, Yuki jumps back and hides behind her father.
“What is it?”
Saije sighs and pulls her from behind him.
“It is Jen in his true form. He is a kitsune.”
Yuki looks up at her father, her blue eyes widening in understanding.
“A kitsune? You mean the animal portrayed in the Shinto shrines?”
“I take offense to being called an animal. My charge or not, call me one again and I will make you bleed.”
He snarls and bares his fangs.
Saije steps forward as Yuki begins to cower behind her father again.
“Enough. Yuki is not familiar with your kind by any means, and does not know the dangers of making you angry.”
Jen raises his nose in annoyance.
“Then she’d better be a quick study.”
Jen changes back into his human form, slowly rising to his feet.
Yuki blushes and looks away from the naked form. Jen puts the clothes back on, buttoning the black pants and pulling the black shirt over his head. He slides the trench coat back on, shifting his hips to set the tails of the coat whishing close to his now booted feet. Jen picks up the sunglasses and places them on, covering his green eyes and finishing the neutral expression of disinterest.
“Say it, Pops.”
Seiji glares at Jen before breathing in.
“I, Seiji Hiroshu, the great grandson of Katari Hiroshu, pass on the star ball to my eldest, Yuki Hiroshu.”
Yuki looks at the star ball in wonder, rubbing its smooth and flawless sides.
“Yuki.”
She looks up at her father.
“Yes?”
He nods towards Jen. She looks at him as he removes his sunglasses.
“I, Jen Ide, acknowledge the passing of the star ball to the eldest child of Seiji Hiroshu, Yuki. As I promised her ancestor, I shall protect her from harm until the time comes for her to release the star ball back to me.”
Seiji looks at Yuki.
“Now he’ll do everything in his power to keep you from harm. That doesn’t mean it’s okay to do reckless things, but that if something happens, you will be able to make it out of it.”
Yuki rubs the star ball and tries to understand just how this was occurring.
“I don’t really understand just what all is going on.”
Jen hisses, vexed by her lack of any knowledge.
“You would think she went to school to gain some intelligence, not lose all common sense.”
Seiji frowns.
“Jen, enough.”
Jen lightly laughs.
“You passed it on with your own words. You have no hold over me.”
Jen stretches and gives a feral grin.
Jen arches his eyebrow when he sees Yuki standing in the way.
“And what are you doing?”
Yuki glares at Jen.
“He’s my father, and I don’t want him to be harmed.”
Jen just starts laughing, his head going back as he thinks of how she couldn’t stop him.
“That may be, but once the protection has left the other, there’s no reason not to harm them for misdeeds done. Besides, it’s not like you could stop me.”
Yuki jumps as he disappears and reappears behind her with his arms around her shoulders.
“I only have to protect, nothing really said about following orders.”
He disappears again and reappears to her right side.
“I saved you from tripping because you were to inherit my star ball, just as I’ve protected you from harm throughout your whole childhood.”
She looks at him.
“How are you doing that?”
He smiles and vanishes again, reappearing directly in front of her. He snakes his arms around her neck.
“Simple, darling, even with this human form, I move faster than the eye can keep up with.”
She pulls back at the closeness of his grinning, sadistic face. He tips his head forward and locks her eyes with his.
“Your heart is beating real quickly. What are you so afraid of?”
She stammers to find her voice when he disappears again. Her father had reached out to grab Jen, but found him gone when he did. Jen winds up standing beside Seiji, shaking his head.
“And here I thought you knew how fast I was.”
Seiji tries again to grab him, but finds him gone once again.
“Will you stop doing that?”
The voice comes from beneath him this time.
“No, this is far more entertaining.”
Jen goes from lying on the floor between Seiji’s legs to being behind Yuki, who had turned around when he started to pester Seiji. He wraps his arms around her waist and leans in close, whispering softly into her ear.
“You never did answer the question. What are you so afraid of?”
The fine hair on the back of her neck stands up on their ends, her breath comes quick and shallow at his presence. Her voice quakes as an icy, tingling feeling comes through her spine.
“Y, you.”
Jen chuckles lightly, his chest hopping against her back.
“You have nothing to be afraid of, my dear. After all, I’m here for your protection…”
He smirks and lets her go after licking her neck. Yuki rushes away to her father.
“He’s sick.”
Her face and voice showing her disgust with him. Jen laughs and extends his hand.
“Then give me the star ball, and I’ll leave you alone for good.”
Yuki looks at his extended hand and feels compelled to give him the ball hanging on the string in her hand.
“Yuki!”
The voice of her father startles her.
She looks up at him.
“Don’t listen to him. He’s just trying to get it back. He’ll do anything in order to acquire it, but you must remember that he is your servant in this matter, not the other way around.”
Jen grinds his teeth as he sees Yuki take the star ball and put the looped string around her neck. The ball rests firmly against her chest.
“Fine, have it your way. I’ll find another way to get it back.”
He scoffs indignantly and puts his hands in his coat pockets.
“You see, Yuki? He can be very persuasive when he wants to be, but never give in.”
She nods and looks at the ball while stroking it.
“It’s strange, since I don’t feel anything coming from it. No aura at all.”
Seiji nods.
“It’s his star ball, and none but he can tap into its power.”
Yuki nods slowly and then looks at the strange man.
“And how is he going to protect me when I’m at school or in public?”
Seiji slightly smiles.
“Well, he accompanies you, though he can be very discreet about his presence.”
Jen nods and leans against the wall, his face once again a mask of neutrality.
“I chose to show myself to scare you into giving it to me. My plan obviously failed. However, you haven’t noticed before, have you? How I’ve always protected you?”
Looking at her father, Yuki’s brow furrows in confusion.
“But what’s so special about this night?”
Jen’s voice speaks up instead, directing her attention back to him.
“Tonight marks the night that your great-great-grandfather managed to steal my star ball. It has passed onto the descendant when it is this night of their sixteenth year. That was the arrangement, though I still don’t understand what’s so special about this particular age.”
Jen closes his eyes and raises his nose.
“After all, I’m more than a hundred times older.”
Yuki slowly smiles.
“So you remember history then, right?”
Jen opens his eyes and looks at her.
“Remember, yes. Allowing it for use in your assignments, no.”
Seiji chuckles and pats Yuki’s shoulders.
“He’s only here to protect you. I know, as I tried that as well.”
Yuki lightly laughs and begins to yawn.
“All of these events have worn me out. I think I’ll go to bed.”
She waves goodnight to her father and goes off to bed. Seiji looks at Jen, who just stares back.
“What?”
Seiji frowns lightly.
“Don’t try to do that. You know that controlling people takes its toll on the victim. It could cause harm.”
Jen scoffs and closes his eyes in irritation of the man.
“It only wears them down a little, causing them to become tired. I’m well aware of my powers, thank you.”
He pushes off the wall and starts to leave the room.
“But as I said before, I’m not under any obligation to follow what you or her say.”
Jen stops at the door and looks over his shoulder at Seiji.
“And I will kill you if you get in my way. As that phrase goes, ‘obstacles are for killing’. Don’t make yourself an obstacle.”
Jen opens the door and closes it behind him. He leaves the house through the back door and leaps onto the rooftop, lying down to stare at the starry, moonlit night.
“Things are progressing nicely.”
Her father calls as she enters the living room with the man in all black behind her. Yuki’s father looks at the man.
“Jen, release her.”
The man snorts lightly and closes his eyes while crossing his arms.
“Fine.”
Yuki feels a tingle run through her body as she suddenly becomes able to move on her own. Now being able to move, she runs to her father, holding a white knuckled grip of his shirt.
“Who is he, father?”
Her father, Saije, puts an arm around his daughter.
“This is Jen Ide, Yuki. He is the family protector since the time of your grandfather’s grandfather. He has watched over the eldest of the children, protecting us from physical harm.”
Yuki’s expression showing her lack of understanding.
“I don’t understand it. Why is he protecting us?”
Saije pulls out a small gold ball on a looped piece of string.
“Because he swore to so he can have this returned to him.”
He holds it out to her. Yuki picks it up and looks at it, seeing not a mark on it aside from a small spot that had been made to allow it to be put on the string.
“But, what is this?”
She turns it from one side to the other. Jen grits his teeth and sulks at having to go through this again.
“It’s a star ball. It holds a great deal of my power, and its absence is most annoying.”
The anger rising within him at having to suffer this humiliation.
Yuki looks confused at Jen.
“Star ball? I’ve never heard of anything like it. It certainly doesn’t look like a star.”
Jen grinds his teeth and does his best not to go over to her and rip her head off.
“That’s what it’s called, okay? You seriously haven’t paid any attention to your mythology, have you.”
Yuki frowns at him.
“Why should I have? It’s not like the myths have any truth to them.”
Without warning, Jen turns around and his clothes fall to the ground. A creature leaps out of the descending bundle of black clothing and stands proudly on its four feet. Seeing the white fox-like animal with nine waving tails, Yuki jumps back and hides behind her father.
“What is it?”
Saije sighs and pulls her from behind him.
“It is Jen in his true form. He is a kitsune.”
Yuki looks up at her father, her blue eyes widening in understanding.
“A kitsune? You mean the animal portrayed in the Shinto shrines?”
“I take offense to being called an animal. My charge or not, call me one again and I will make you bleed.”
He snarls and bares his fangs.
Saije steps forward as Yuki begins to cower behind her father again.
“Enough. Yuki is not familiar with your kind by any means, and does not know the dangers of making you angry.”
Jen raises his nose in annoyance.
“Then she’d better be a quick study.”
Jen changes back into his human form, slowly rising to his feet.
Yuki blushes and looks away from the naked form. Jen puts the clothes back on, buttoning the black pants and pulling the black shirt over his head. He slides the trench coat back on, shifting his hips to set the tails of the coat whishing close to his now booted feet. Jen picks up the sunglasses and places them on, covering his green eyes and finishing the neutral expression of disinterest.
“Say it, Pops.”
Seiji glares at Jen before breathing in.
“I, Seiji Hiroshu, the great grandson of Katari Hiroshu, pass on the star ball to my eldest, Yuki Hiroshu.”
Yuki looks at the star ball in wonder, rubbing its smooth and flawless sides.
“Yuki.”
She looks up at her father.
“Yes?”
He nods towards Jen. She looks at him as he removes his sunglasses.
“I, Jen Ide, acknowledge the passing of the star ball to the eldest child of Seiji Hiroshu, Yuki. As I promised her ancestor, I shall protect her from harm until the time comes for her to release the star ball back to me.”
Seiji looks at Yuki.
“Now he’ll do everything in his power to keep you from harm. That doesn’t mean it’s okay to do reckless things, but that if something happens, you will be able to make it out of it.”
Yuki rubs the star ball and tries to understand just how this was occurring.
“I don’t really understand just what all is going on.”
Jen hisses, vexed by her lack of any knowledge.
“You would think she went to school to gain some intelligence, not lose all common sense.”
Seiji frowns.
“Jen, enough.”
Jen lightly laughs.
“You passed it on with your own words. You have no hold over me.”
Jen stretches and gives a feral grin.
Jen arches his eyebrow when he sees Yuki standing in the way.
“And what are you doing?”
Yuki glares at Jen.
“He’s my father, and I don’t want him to be harmed.”
Jen just starts laughing, his head going back as he thinks of how she couldn’t stop him.
“That may be, but once the protection has left the other, there’s no reason not to harm them for misdeeds done. Besides, it’s not like you could stop me.”
Yuki jumps as he disappears and reappears behind her with his arms around her shoulders.
“I only have to protect, nothing really said about following orders.”
He disappears again and reappears to her right side.
“I saved you from tripping because you were to inherit my star ball, just as I’ve protected you from harm throughout your whole childhood.”
She looks at him.
“How are you doing that?”
He smiles and vanishes again, reappearing directly in front of her. He snakes his arms around her neck.
“Simple, darling, even with this human form, I move faster than the eye can keep up with.”
She pulls back at the closeness of his grinning, sadistic face. He tips his head forward and locks her eyes with his.
“Your heart is beating real quickly. What are you so afraid of?”
She stammers to find her voice when he disappears again. Her father had reached out to grab Jen, but found him gone when he did. Jen winds up standing beside Seiji, shaking his head.
“And here I thought you knew how fast I was.”
Seiji tries again to grab him, but finds him gone once again.
“Will you stop doing that?”
The voice comes from beneath him this time.
“No, this is far more entertaining.”
Jen goes from lying on the floor between Seiji’s legs to being behind Yuki, who had turned around when he started to pester Seiji. He wraps his arms around her waist and leans in close, whispering softly into her ear.
“You never did answer the question. What are you so afraid of?”
The fine hair on the back of her neck stands up on their ends, her breath comes quick and shallow at his presence. Her voice quakes as an icy, tingling feeling comes through her spine.
“Y, you.”
Jen chuckles lightly, his chest hopping against her back.
“You have nothing to be afraid of, my dear. After all, I’m here for your protection…”
He smirks and lets her go after licking her neck. Yuki rushes away to her father.
“He’s sick.”
Her face and voice showing her disgust with him. Jen laughs and extends his hand.
“Then give me the star ball, and I’ll leave you alone for good.”
Yuki looks at his extended hand and feels compelled to give him the ball hanging on the string in her hand.
“Yuki!”
The voice of her father startles her.
She looks up at him.
“Don’t listen to him. He’s just trying to get it back. He’ll do anything in order to acquire it, but you must remember that he is your servant in this matter, not the other way around.”
Jen grinds his teeth as he sees Yuki take the star ball and put the looped string around her neck. The ball rests firmly against her chest.
“Fine, have it your way. I’ll find another way to get it back.”
He scoffs indignantly and puts his hands in his coat pockets.
“You see, Yuki? He can be very persuasive when he wants to be, but never give in.”
She nods and looks at the ball while stroking it.
“It’s strange, since I don’t feel anything coming from it. No aura at all.”
Seiji nods.
“It’s his star ball, and none but he can tap into its power.”
Yuki nods slowly and then looks at the strange man.
“And how is he going to protect me when I’m at school or in public?”
Seiji slightly smiles.
“Well, he accompanies you, though he can be very discreet about his presence.”
Jen nods and leans against the wall, his face once again a mask of neutrality.
“I chose to show myself to scare you into giving it to me. My plan obviously failed. However, you haven’t noticed before, have you? How I’ve always protected you?”
Looking at her father, Yuki’s brow furrows in confusion.
“But what’s so special about this night?”
Jen’s voice speaks up instead, directing her attention back to him.
“Tonight marks the night that your great-great-grandfather managed to steal my star ball. It has passed onto the descendant when it is this night of their sixteenth year. That was the arrangement, though I still don’t understand what’s so special about this particular age.”
Jen closes his eyes and raises his nose.
“After all, I’m more than a hundred times older.”
Yuki slowly smiles.
“So you remember history then, right?”
Jen opens his eyes and looks at her.
“Remember, yes. Allowing it for use in your assignments, no.”
Seiji chuckles and pats Yuki’s shoulders.
“He’s only here to protect you. I know, as I tried that as well.”
Yuki lightly laughs and begins to yawn.
“All of these events have worn me out. I think I’ll go to bed.”
She waves goodnight to her father and goes off to bed. Seiji looks at Jen, who just stares back.
“What?”
Seiji frowns lightly.
“Don’t try to do that. You know that controlling people takes its toll on the victim. It could cause harm.”
Jen scoffs and closes his eyes in irritation of the man.
“It only wears them down a little, causing them to become tired. I’m well aware of my powers, thank you.”
He pushes off the wall and starts to leave the room.
“But as I said before, I’m not under any obligation to follow what you or her say.”
Jen stops at the door and looks over his shoulder at Seiji.
“And I will kill you if you get in my way. As that phrase goes, ‘obstacles are for killing’. Don’t make yourself an obstacle.”
Jen opens the door and closes it behind him. He leaves the house through the back door and leaps onto the rooftop, lying down to stare at the starry, moonlit night.
“Things are progressing nicely.”
Chapter 4
“Yuki!”
Yuki turns around and sees her friends heading towards her.
“Hey!”
Rika and Miu catch up to her and immediately spot the golden ball hanging on her school uniform.
“Where’d you get that from?”
Yuki opens her mouth to speak, but then remembers the talk she had with Jen earlier in the morning.
“Remember, people don’t believe that beings such as myself exist. If you say it’s my star ball, they will think you extremely weird. You’d best come up with a much better answer. Probably related to your mother, since she is overseas and all.”
“My mother had sent this to me, it came yesterday.”
Rika looms closer and lifts it up, examining it.
“Wow, it’s real pretty. Not a single mark on it.”
Miu takes a look as well.
“It is. You’re so lucky having a tour guide for a mother.”
Yuki lightly laughs.
“It seems like it at times, but when she’s rarely around, it gets to be lonely.”
Her friends throw an arm around her and remind her that she isn’t alone.
Watching from a distance, Jen grinds his teeth at how two mortals had touched his ball.
“This is too much, why must I have to go through this humiliation?”
He growls lowly and continues following them, his coat tail billowing behind him when he moved onto the next rooftop.
As they enter the building, Rika looks at Yuki.
“So, what are you going to do with it? You know that we’re not allowed any decorations or accessories on in our uniforms.”
Yuki blinks, not having thought about that.
“Uh, well… I’ll put it in my locker.”
She nods and heads straight to her locker. She opens it and hangs the string on the hook within and closes it. Rejoining her friends, they start walking again until they get to the first hallway and part to go to their classes.
Jen watches Yuki and her friends enter the school and then decides on the best course of action. He jumps off the roof of the store closest to the school and lands on the ground. The handful of people on the road look at him in surprise. He flashes his teeth and looks at them.
“What?”
The people continue walking, not wanting to get involved with a person looking for a fight.
Jen starts walking around the fence of the school, following it to the back of the school building. He leaps over the fence and lands in a crouch. Getting up, he heads to the air conditioning unit and stands on it. He crouches down and pushes upward with his legs.
The air whizzes past as he leaps all the way to the roof of the six story building. He lands in a crouch, with the coat tails flopping down onto the roof.
“I despise this, waiting for this girl to finally give me mine.”
He goes to the enclosed stairwell that leads back into the building and gets on top of it. He lies down, closes his eyes, and folds his arms over his stomach.
“Several million years won’t live this down.”
Yuki goes through her uneventful day of school and starts to head home. She hears something hit the ground behind her and turns to see Jen there.
“Don’t do that! You nearly gave me a heart attack!”
Her eyes widen as her heart races.
“You weren’t that close.”
He starts walking towards her house, and she begins to follow him. She strokes the star ball and catches his fist clenching before relaxing.
“You don’t like people touching this, do you?”
He doesn’t turn when he replies.
“No I don’t.”
She jogs until she gets beside him.
“And why not?”
He feels her touching the ball without having to look, his brow furrows in annoyance.
“It’s solely mine, and has no right to be with in the hands of mere mortals.”
She touches her cheek with her right index finger in thought.
“Even though it was taken from you?”
He stops and turns to glare at her.
“Exactly. It was taken, without my consent. And you simply have it because of a promise of protection given to that thief of a great-great grandfather of yours.”
Jen sulks and turns to continue walking back towards the house. Yuki turns her nose to the side as she walks with him.
“You’re horrible company.”
Jen smirks.
“Then why don’t you walk home with those friends of yours?”
Yuki stops and opens her mouth to say something, but finds no words to say.
“Oh, that’s right, they ditched you.”
Jen laughs and continues walking. He stops after a few steps when he notices that she had simply stayed still. He turns around and looks at her.
“It was meant as a joke.”
He sees the tears in her eyes and he shuts up.
“Well it wasn’t funny!”
She runs past him and continues towards her house. He easily keeps up with her but remains silent. She gets to her house and unlocks the door before closing it behind her and re locking it. She leans against the door and tries to stop crying.
“You know, you’re taking this way too seriously.”
She opens her eyes and sees Jen standing against the hallway wall, arms folded across his chest.
“I don’t care about your opinion.”
She takes her shoes off and goes upstairs to her room. She slams the door behind her and lies down on the bed.
“You know, temper tantrums really don’t suit the image you put up.”
She growls and throws her pillow at Jen, who managed to get in when she was closing the door. He catches the pillow and walks to her, setting the pillow back in its spot. Still bent over, he looks at her red and tear stained eyes.
“Nor does that face.”
She screams and kicks out at him. It misses completely as he vanishes and reappears above her, bracing himself in the corner above her bed against the walls and ceiling.
“The kind you try to show is far more beautiful, though extremely shallow and lifeless.”
He pushes off the walls and twists his body to land on his feet. He looks over his shoulder to see her.
“Not like there’s much wrong with this side of you.”
Yuki sulks and turns to her side with her back to him.
“Why did I have to inherit such a pain?”
Jen shrugs and moves to lean against the desk next to her bed.
“Blame your great-great grandfather.”
She snorts in disgust and crawls into a ball. He sighs and walks to the bed, sitting down and placing a hand on her shoulder. She shrugs it off, but he places it back on.
“Don’t touch me.”
“Believe it or not, I’m not here to make your life harder.”
She doesn’t say a thing, just lies there and continues to cry. He sighs and gently squeezes her shoulder. She withdraws from him and her head touches the wall. He frowns lightly and lies down next to her. She cries herself to sleep and tosses around while dreaming. Jen looks over and pulls her to him, putting his arms around her to try and stabilize her. Eventually, she calms down and rests easily. He closes his eyes as well and decides to take a quick nap.
Yuki turns around and sees her friends heading towards her.
“Hey!”
Rika and Miu catch up to her and immediately spot the golden ball hanging on her school uniform.
“Where’d you get that from?”
Yuki opens her mouth to speak, but then remembers the talk she had with Jen earlier in the morning.
“Remember, people don’t believe that beings such as myself exist. If you say it’s my star ball, they will think you extremely weird. You’d best come up with a much better answer. Probably related to your mother, since she is overseas and all.”
“My mother had sent this to me, it came yesterday.”
Rika looms closer and lifts it up, examining it.
“Wow, it’s real pretty. Not a single mark on it.”
Miu takes a look as well.
“It is. You’re so lucky having a tour guide for a mother.”
Yuki lightly laughs.
“It seems like it at times, but when she’s rarely around, it gets to be lonely.”
Her friends throw an arm around her and remind her that she isn’t alone.
Watching from a distance, Jen grinds his teeth at how two mortals had touched his ball.
“This is too much, why must I have to go through this humiliation?”
He growls lowly and continues following them, his coat tail billowing behind him when he moved onto the next rooftop.
As they enter the building, Rika looks at Yuki.
“So, what are you going to do with it? You know that we’re not allowed any decorations or accessories on in our uniforms.”
Yuki blinks, not having thought about that.
“Uh, well… I’ll put it in my locker.”
She nods and heads straight to her locker. She opens it and hangs the string on the hook within and closes it. Rejoining her friends, they start walking again until they get to the first hallway and part to go to their classes.
Jen watches Yuki and her friends enter the school and then decides on the best course of action. He jumps off the roof of the store closest to the school and lands on the ground. The handful of people on the road look at him in surprise. He flashes his teeth and looks at them.
“What?”
The people continue walking, not wanting to get involved with a person looking for a fight.
Jen starts walking around the fence of the school, following it to the back of the school building. He leaps over the fence and lands in a crouch. Getting up, he heads to the air conditioning unit and stands on it. He crouches down and pushes upward with his legs.
The air whizzes past as he leaps all the way to the roof of the six story building. He lands in a crouch, with the coat tails flopping down onto the roof.
“I despise this, waiting for this girl to finally give me mine.”
He goes to the enclosed stairwell that leads back into the building and gets on top of it. He lies down, closes his eyes, and folds his arms over his stomach.
“Several million years won’t live this down.”
Yuki goes through her uneventful day of school and starts to head home. She hears something hit the ground behind her and turns to see Jen there.
“Don’t do that! You nearly gave me a heart attack!”
Her eyes widen as her heart races.
“You weren’t that close.”
He starts walking towards her house, and she begins to follow him. She strokes the star ball and catches his fist clenching before relaxing.
“You don’t like people touching this, do you?”
He doesn’t turn when he replies.
“No I don’t.”
She jogs until she gets beside him.
“And why not?”
He feels her touching the ball without having to look, his brow furrows in annoyance.
“It’s solely mine, and has no right to be with in the hands of mere mortals.”
She touches her cheek with her right index finger in thought.
“Even though it was taken from you?”
He stops and turns to glare at her.
“Exactly. It was taken, without my consent. And you simply have it because of a promise of protection given to that thief of a great-great grandfather of yours.”
Jen sulks and turns to continue walking back towards the house. Yuki turns her nose to the side as she walks with him.
“You’re horrible company.”
Jen smirks.
“Then why don’t you walk home with those friends of yours?”
Yuki stops and opens her mouth to say something, but finds no words to say.
“Oh, that’s right, they ditched you.”
Jen laughs and continues walking. He stops after a few steps when he notices that she had simply stayed still. He turns around and looks at her.
“It was meant as a joke.”
He sees the tears in her eyes and he shuts up.
“Well it wasn’t funny!”
She runs past him and continues towards her house. He easily keeps up with her but remains silent. She gets to her house and unlocks the door before closing it behind her and re locking it. She leans against the door and tries to stop crying.
“You know, you’re taking this way too seriously.”
She opens her eyes and sees Jen standing against the hallway wall, arms folded across his chest.
“I don’t care about your opinion.”
She takes her shoes off and goes upstairs to her room. She slams the door behind her and lies down on the bed.
“You know, temper tantrums really don’t suit the image you put up.”
She growls and throws her pillow at Jen, who managed to get in when she was closing the door. He catches the pillow and walks to her, setting the pillow back in its spot. Still bent over, he looks at her red and tear stained eyes.
“Nor does that face.”
She screams and kicks out at him. It misses completely as he vanishes and reappears above her, bracing himself in the corner above her bed against the walls and ceiling.
“The kind you try to show is far more beautiful, though extremely shallow and lifeless.”
He pushes off the walls and twists his body to land on his feet. He looks over his shoulder to see her.
“Not like there’s much wrong with this side of you.”
Yuki sulks and turns to her side with her back to him.
“Why did I have to inherit such a pain?”
Jen shrugs and moves to lean against the desk next to her bed.
“Blame your great-great grandfather.”
She snorts in disgust and crawls into a ball. He sighs and walks to the bed, sitting down and placing a hand on her shoulder. She shrugs it off, but he places it back on.
“Don’t touch me.”
“Believe it or not, I’m not here to make your life harder.”
She doesn’t say a thing, just lies there and continues to cry. He sighs and gently squeezes her shoulder. She withdraws from him and her head touches the wall. He frowns lightly and lies down next to her. She cries herself to sleep and tosses around while dreaming. Jen looks over and pulls her to him, putting his arms around her to try and stabilize her. Eventually, she calms down and rests easily. He closes his eyes as well and decides to take a quick nap.
Chapter 5
Yuki opens her eyes and becomes aware of a body next to her. She yells and pushes away, bumping into the wall behind her.
“Wha, what are you doing here?!”
Jen slowly opens his eyes and looks at her, having been conscious for quite some time.
“I was keeping you safe.”
Her mouth hangs open in sheer flabbergast.
“How can you being in my room, on my bed, next to me, be keeping me safe?!”
Her voice rises with each set until she is yelling at him.
He simply closes his eyes again.
“Your mind wasn’t very stable, so I took action to help the situation.”
She glares and crawls to him, grabbing his trench coat in both of her hands.
“What?! What do you mean I wasn’t stable? I’m perfectly fine!”
He opens his eyes and glares at her.
“If you’re fine, why do you have a death grip on me while yelling at the top of your voice?”
She blinks and looks to see that her knuckles were white from the force she was exerting. She lets go of him and finds her hands stinging a little from holding something so tightly.
“I.. Sorry…”
She looks away and moves back, still sitting on the bed, but with her back to the wall. Jen shrugs lightly and puts his hands behind his head.
“It’s nearly seven o’clock. There’s still a while before your father should be coming home.”
She leans her head to the side while looking at him.
“It’s seven?”
Jen nods lightly.
“Pretty close to it.”
She bites her lower lip.
“I must have slept for quite a while.”
He nods again then pushes himself off the bed and stands up.
“You still seem a little worn out. I’ll make you some dinner.”
He leaves the room and closes the door behind him. She watches, in wonder, as he leaves.
What was that about?
While he was away, she lies on the bed and thinks, as she did countless days before when she was alone.
Why me? Why does this have to happen to me? What did I do to deserve this kind of life? And what is with him? I don’t understand him. I know everything he does is to connecting to getting his ball back, but his method is hard to follow. Is he being nice to me so I will feel ashamed to keep it?
She mulls over these questions and then feels his presence next to her.
Jen points to the tray of food on her desk.
“Eat it while it’s still warm, it doesn’t taste all that good cold.”
She nods and gets up, feeling a little light headed as she gets off the bed. She feels his hand steadying her and leading her to the seat at the desk. She plops down into the seat and begins to get over the light headedness. Jen lies down on the bed and places his hands behind his head.
Yuki takes the chopsticks and starts eating the rice. After a few bites, she realizes that she was pretty hungry and didn’t notice.
“Does it matter?”
She stops eating and looks at Jen.
“Does what matter?”
He continues looking at the ceiling.
“What my method is. Regardless of how I intend to regain it, the decision to give it back is yours alone.”
She doesn’t respond, turning back to her food and continuing to eat. Jen closes his eyes and remains in silence while she finishes her dinner.
After finishing her meal, she carries the tray back downstairs to the kitchen and cleans the dishes. The door to the kitchen opens and she turns to see her father walk in. She smiles at him.
“Welcome home Dad.”
He nods.
“Thank you. Did you have a good day at school?”
She nods, still smiling.
“Yeah, it went well. How was yours?”
Seiji goes to the refrigerator and pulls out a can of beer.
“It was another day. Though it does make one wonder how much can really go wrong within a short period of time.”
Yuki giggles at her father’s overreacting. Things rarely go as planned for him, but in the end, everything works out well.
“The business is still doing well, so it can’t be that bad, right?”
He smiles and nods before drinking.
“Did you eat at that place again Dad?”
He nods.
“They have really good food, and I must admit, without your mother around, I don’t feel like eating at home much.”
They take a seat at the table next to the kitchen.
“So, did Jen try anything to get it back?”
Yuki shakes her head.
“Not really, but for some reason, he’s been real nice to me today, nothing like he was earlier.”
Her father mulls over that and takes another sip of his beer.
“I don’t know what he’s up to. I never could follow his thought process.”
Yuki places her arm on the table and rests her head on it, closing her eyes.
“I feel exhausted.”
Jen walks into the room and looks at them.
“So it’s nap time and happy hour?”
Seiji finishes the can and throws it at Jen.
The kitsune in human form dodges the can and lets it hit the wall, watching as the can falls to the ground.
“You missed.”
Seiji shakes his head and gets up from the table.
“Putting up with your antics drives me nuts.”
Jen simply smirks and watches Yuki’s father leave the kitchen area. He then walks to the table and sits on it, next to Yuki.
“Didn’t you get enough sleep all ready?”
She opens her eyes, then closes them, trying to ignore him. He pokes her head with his index finger. When she doesn’t respond, he pokes her again and again. She groans and swipes a hand at him.
“If you really want to sleep, wouldn’t your bed be a better place than the kitchen table?”
She mutters under her breath and settles her head on her arm. Jen reaches over and ruffles her brown hair, making parts of it stick up.
She opens her eyes, annoyance clearly written on her face.
“Why are you doing this?”
He smiles at her.
“It’s too early to be going to sleep. It’s not even eight thirty yet, and you’re ready to fall right asleep.”
She groans and closes her eyes again.
“Fine, be that way if you want to.”
He gets off the table and pulls her chair out, with Yuki leaning more over to not be moved.
Sarcastically, he says, “All right, I’ll put you to bed and tuck you in.”
She protests weakly as he lifts her up and carries her in his arms.
“You’re such a little baby, you know that, right?”
She mutters incoherently and rests her head on his chest. He sighs and leaves the kitchen, going through the hallway to the stairs. Carrying her, he watches her sleepy face as she slowly finds rest.
He brings her to her room and sets her down on her bed. Seeing she’s still in her school uniform, he debates taking them off so they won’t get even more wrinkled than it all ready was, or just leaving her be. He decides to leave her be and pulls the covers out from under her and brings them up to her shoulders.
“Sleep well.”
Looking at the doorway, he sees Seiji.
“It’s sad when I have to do your job for you.”
Seiji doesn’t say anything, but walks away. Jen goes to the door and looks back at Yuki’s sleeping form.
“Night.”
He closes the door and leans against it.
“This seems to be harder than I had thought.”
He goes downstairs and leaves the house, wandering into the night for some mischief.
“Wha, what are you doing here?!”
Jen slowly opens his eyes and looks at her, having been conscious for quite some time.
“I was keeping you safe.”
Her mouth hangs open in sheer flabbergast.
“How can you being in my room, on my bed, next to me, be keeping me safe?!”
Her voice rises with each set until she is yelling at him.
He simply closes his eyes again.
“Your mind wasn’t very stable, so I took action to help the situation.”
She glares and crawls to him, grabbing his trench coat in both of her hands.
“What?! What do you mean I wasn’t stable? I’m perfectly fine!”
He opens his eyes and glares at her.
“If you’re fine, why do you have a death grip on me while yelling at the top of your voice?”
She blinks and looks to see that her knuckles were white from the force she was exerting. She lets go of him and finds her hands stinging a little from holding something so tightly.
“I.. Sorry…”
She looks away and moves back, still sitting on the bed, but with her back to the wall. Jen shrugs lightly and puts his hands behind his head.
“It’s nearly seven o’clock. There’s still a while before your father should be coming home.”
She leans her head to the side while looking at him.
“It’s seven?”
Jen nods lightly.
“Pretty close to it.”
She bites her lower lip.
“I must have slept for quite a while.”
He nods again then pushes himself off the bed and stands up.
“You still seem a little worn out. I’ll make you some dinner.”
He leaves the room and closes the door behind him. She watches, in wonder, as he leaves.
What was that about?
While he was away, she lies on the bed and thinks, as she did countless days before when she was alone.
Why me? Why does this have to happen to me? What did I do to deserve this kind of life? And what is with him? I don’t understand him. I know everything he does is to connecting to getting his ball back, but his method is hard to follow. Is he being nice to me so I will feel ashamed to keep it?
She mulls over these questions and then feels his presence next to her.
Jen points to the tray of food on her desk.
“Eat it while it’s still warm, it doesn’t taste all that good cold.”
She nods and gets up, feeling a little light headed as she gets off the bed. She feels his hand steadying her and leading her to the seat at the desk. She plops down into the seat and begins to get over the light headedness. Jen lies down on the bed and places his hands behind his head.
Yuki takes the chopsticks and starts eating the rice. After a few bites, she realizes that she was pretty hungry and didn’t notice.
“Does it matter?”
She stops eating and looks at Jen.
“Does what matter?”
He continues looking at the ceiling.
“What my method is. Regardless of how I intend to regain it, the decision to give it back is yours alone.”
She doesn’t respond, turning back to her food and continuing to eat. Jen closes his eyes and remains in silence while she finishes her dinner.
After finishing her meal, she carries the tray back downstairs to the kitchen and cleans the dishes. The door to the kitchen opens and she turns to see her father walk in. She smiles at him.
“Welcome home Dad.”
He nods.
“Thank you. Did you have a good day at school?”
She nods, still smiling.
“Yeah, it went well. How was yours?”
Seiji goes to the refrigerator and pulls out a can of beer.
“It was another day. Though it does make one wonder how much can really go wrong within a short period of time.”
Yuki giggles at her father’s overreacting. Things rarely go as planned for him, but in the end, everything works out well.
“The business is still doing well, so it can’t be that bad, right?”
He smiles and nods before drinking.
“Did you eat at that place again Dad?”
He nods.
“They have really good food, and I must admit, without your mother around, I don’t feel like eating at home much.”
They take a seat at the table next to the kitchen.
“So, did Jen try anything to get it back?”
Yuki shakes her head.
“Not really, but for some reason, he’s been real nice to me today, nothing like he was earlier.”
Her father mulls over that and takes another sip of his beer.
“I don’t know what he’s up to. I never could follow his thought process.”
Yuki places her arm on the table and rests her head on it, closing her eyes.
“I feel exhausted.”
Jen walks into the room and looks at them.
“So it’s nap time and happy hour?”
Seiji finishes the can and throws it at Jen.
The kitsune in human form dodges the can and lets it hit the wall, watching as the can falls to the ground.
“You missed.”
Seiji shakes his head and gets up from the table.
“Putting up with your antics drives me nuts.”
Jen simply smirks and watches Yuki’s father leave the kitchen area. He then walks to the table and sits on it, next to Yuki.
“Didn’t you get enough sleep all ready?”
She opens her eyes, then closes them, trying to ignore him. He pokes her head with his index finger. When she doesn’t respond, he pokes her again and again. She groans and swipes a hand at him.
“If you really want to sleep, wouldn’t your bed be a better place than the kitchen table?”
She mutters under her breath and settles her head on her arm. Jen reaches over and ruffles her brown hair, making parts of it stick up.
She opens her eyes, annoyance clearly written on her face.
“Why are you doing this?”
He smiles at her.
“It’s too early to be going to sleep. It’s not even eight thirty yet, and you’re ready to fall right asleep.”
She groans and closes her eyes again.
“Fine, be that way if you want to.”
He gets off the table and pulls her chair out, with Yuki leaning more over to not be moved.
Sarcastically, he says, “All right, I’ll put you to bed and tuck you in.”
She protests weakly as he lifts her up and carries her in his arms.
“You’re such a little baby, you know that, right?”
She mutters incoherently and rests her head on his chest. He sighs and leaves the kitchen, going through the hallway to the stairs. Carrying her, he watches her sleepy face as she slowly finds rest.
He brings her to her room and sets her down on her bed. Seeing she’s still in her school uniform, he debates taking them off so they won’t get even more wrinkled than it all ready was, or just leaving her be. He decides to leave her be and pulls the covers out from under her and brings them up to her shoulders.
“Sleep well.”
Looking at the doorway, he sees Seiji.
“It’s sad when I have to do your job for you.”
Seiji doesn’t say anything, but walks away. Jen goes to the door and looks back at Yuki’s sleeping form.
“Night.”
He closes the door and leans against it.
“This seems to be harder than I had thought.”
He goes downstairs and leaves the house, wandering into the night for some mischief.
Chapter 6
Yuki groans as she slowly wakes up.
“Did you rest well?”
Her eyes turn to the speaker, seeing Jen sitting on the floor with his back against the far wall.
“You’re always around, aren’t you?”
Jen nods slowly.
“I try my best to.”
Yuki looks at herself and notices she’s still dressed in her school uniform.
“Have I slept in this the whole night?”
Jen nods and gets up.
“I didn’t feel it would be appropriate to undress you.”
Yuki smirks slightly.
“Not appropriate? You don’t strike me as the kind of person to care about someone else’s modesty.”
Jens shrugs lightly.
“I did it for you, not me. Seeing a naked body doesn’t mean a thing to me. However, if I was to strip you, you probably wouldn’t be very amiable. How would you know I didn’t do something to you? Right?”
Yuki glares at him and lifts her nose as she gets out of the bed.
“Can you leave? I’d like to change.”
Jen walks out, lifting his sunglasses to cover his eyes again.
“Fine, but don’t take too long.”
He shuts the door behind him and leans against the wall next to the door frame with his arms crossed. Yuki begins to change when she hears his voice.
“Do you really have that much problems with taking your clothes off? I could have undressed and redressed three times by now.”
She ignores him and continues removing the uniform. Folding them up, she places them within a drawer in her dresser before withdrawing a blue skirt, a beige blouse, a bra and white panties. She places them close to her body and walks to the door, still only clad in her panties, bra, and the necklace. The door opens and she looks down both sides of the hallway, not seeing Jen anywhere. She quickly walks down the hall, down the stairs, and turning around the corner to the bathroom.
She sets the fresh clothing on the bench against the wall. She looks at the door leading to the bath and goes to it, opening it quickly. After looking around, she sees he wasn’t there either. She frowns lightly while still leaning against the inward opened door.
“Weird, where is he?”
The door to the hallway opens up, and Jen gets a good view of her slightly bent over form from behind.
“I’m right here, since you ask.”
Yuki quickly gets behind the door and her face reddens in a mixture of anger and embarrassment.
“Oh, will you knock next time?!”
Jen shrugs and takes a seat on the bench, careful not to sit on her clothes.
“You were asking for me, so I figured that I’d go ahead and reveal myself.”
He smirks slightly.
“Though I wasn’t expecting you to go revealing yourself as well.”
Her face reddens more and she slams the door.
She turns her attention to the bath and proceeds to wash herself. After a few minutes, she wraps a towel around her dripping form and exits the bath. She sees Jen gone again, and finds his behavior odd and confusing. Pushing the thoughts away, she begins to get herself dressed. Having finished dressing, she finishes drying her hair and sets the towel on a hook. Going to the sink, she brushes her teeth before leaving the bathroom.
“Jen, where did you go now?”
Not receiving an answer, she begins to go around the house looking for him, for the sole purpose of him not sneaking up on her again. She eventually stops and goes to her room. The door opens for her, and she walks in. A light breeze hits her face, and she sees him sitting on of the window seal with his legs dangling, the coat tail within the room.
“Took you long enough.”
She makes a face at his back and fetches her purse.
“Like it’s any of your business.”
She counters.
She begins to head back out of the door when he speaks again.
“Anxious to see a movie? It’s been a while since you last saw one.”
She stops and turns to look at him.
“How did you know?”
He continues looking out at the almost endless sea of houses beneath the blue sky.
“I could say that you mumbled it in your sleep, but the truth is, it’s been on your mind for a while.”
She stalks over to him and places her hands on either side of the window frame.
“And you’re reading my thoughts again? Will you stop that?”
He lifts his head and looks at her, locking eye contact.
“Not gonna happen. I have to protect you, and knowing all possible threats are necessary to fulfill my duty.”
She frowns at him, not breaking the eye contact.
“My thoughts are private, and are not meant to be read. If you don’t stop, I’m going to keep this forever.”
She brings her left hand to caress the star ball.
Jen grinds his teeth in response to her touching it.
“You could try, but the fact remains, you won’t outlive me. And as you are the last one I have to protect, I will kill any that tries to stop me from taking it back.”
Yuki glares at him and removes her hand from the star ball to push him off the window seal. He falls to the ground, but gracefully lands. His coat tail falls back into place and he looks up at her.
“So, are you going to the movies or not?”
She makes a face at him and closes the window. She goes to the doorway and exits the room, running right into Jen.
“Ow, did you have to do that?”
Jen shrugs nonchalantly.
“Not really, but I didn’t feel like waiting hand and foot for you either.”
She glares lightly and walks ahead of him. They leave the house and begin walking to the train station.
“Are you going to walk with me there? I thought you preferred to stay out of sight.”
He continues walking next to her.
“May as well. After all, it’d do well for your social reputation if it was thought you had a boyfriend.”
She opens her mouth and tries to form words, but the sheer shock of his statement ate at her.
“Boyfriend?! Like I would ever consider going out with someone like you! You dress way too dark, you’re more of a pest than anything, and you don’t listen to a thing I say!”
He picks at his ear.
“I’m sorry, were you saying something?”
She yells in frustration and runs off towards the station. He easily keeps pace with her and smiles at her.
“I must have hit pretty close to home to have gotten such a strong reaction from you. What, do you like me or something?”
He asks, teasing her. She swings her purse at him, but it doesn’t come close to connecting.
“Why can’t you just go away?!”
He puts his arms behind his head and turns around to run backwards.
“I believe we’ve been down this road before, in both senses of the term ‘road’.”
She grinds her teeth and continues running, getting extremely irritated at him. She blinks as he suddenly disappears from sight and slows down to a stop. Looking in each direction, she doesn’t see where he had gone.
“Jen?”
Scanning the rooftops, she doesn’t see anything except a few birds perched on an electric wire. The ground shakes, and she falls to the ground. The birds fly off in a panic, afraid of what’s occurring. Yuki looks about for Jen.
“Jen!”
Is it an earthquake? The ground shakes again, but this time, she sees a large cloud of dust forming from a street away. Intrigued, and figuring Jen was somehow responsible, she runs in the direction of the cloud.
“Did you rest well?”
Her eyes turn to the speaker, seeing Jen sitting on the floor with his back against the far wall.
“You’re always around, aren’t you?”
Jen nods slowly.
“I try my best to.”
Yuki looks at herself and notices she’s still dressed in her school uniform.
“Have I slept in this the whole night?”
Jen nods and gets up.
“I didn’t feel it would be appropriate to undress you.”
Yuki smirks slightly.
“Not appropriate? You don’t strike me as the kind of person to care about someone else’s modesty.”
Jens shrugs lightly.
“I did it for you, not me. Seeing a naked body doesn’t mean a thing to me. However, if I was to strip you, you probably wouldn’t be very amiable. How would you know I didn’t do something to you? Right?”
Yuki glares at him and lifts her nose as she gets out of the bed.
“Can you leave? I’d like to change.”
Jen walks out, lifting his sunglasses to cover his eyes again.
“Fine, but don’t take too long.”
He shuts the door behind him and leans against the wall next to the door frame with his arms crossed. Yuki begins to change when she hears his voice.
“Do you really have that much problems with taking your clothes off? I could have undressed and redressed three times by now.”
She ignores him and continues removing the uniform. Folding them up, she places them within a drawer in her dresser before withdrawing a blue skirt, a beige blouse, a bra and white panties. She places them close to her body and walks to the door, still only clad in her panties, bra, and the necklace. The door opens and she looks down both sides of the hallway, not seeing Jen anywhere. She quickly walks down the hall, down the stairs, and turning around the corner to the bathroom.
She sets the fresh clothing on the bench against the wall. She looks at the door leading to the bath and goes to it, opening it quickly. After looking around, she sees he wasn’t there either. She frowns lightly while still leaning against the inward opened door.
“Weird, where is he?”
The door to the hallway opens up, and Jen gets a good view of her slightly bent over form from behind.
“I’m right here, since you ask.”
Yuki quickly gets behind the door and her face reddens in a mixture of anger and embarrassment.
“Oh, will you knock next time?!”
Jen shrugs and takes a seat on the bench, careful not to sit on her clothes.
“You were asking for me, so I figured that I’d go ahead and reveal myself.”
He smirks slightly.
“Though I wasn’t expecting you to go revealing yourself as well.”
Her face reddens more and she slams the door.
She turns her attention to the bath and proceeds to wash herself. After a few minutes, she wraps a towel around her dripping form and exits the bath. She sees Jen gone again, and finds his behavior odd and confusing. Pushing the thoughts away, she begins to get herself dressed. Having finished dressing, she finishes drying her hair and sets the towel on a hook. Going to the sink, she brushes her teeth before leaving the bathroom.
“Jen, where did you go now?”
Not receiving an answer, she begins to go around the house looking for him, for the sole purpose of him not sneaking up on her again. She eventually stops and goes to her room. The door opens for her, and she walks in. A light breeze hits her face, and she sees him sitting on of the window seal with his legs dangling, the coat tail within the room.
“Took you long enough.”
She makes a face at his back and fetches her purse.
“Like it’s any of your business.”
She counters.
She begins to head back out of the door when he speaks again.
“Anxious to see a movie? It’s been a while since you last saw one.”
She stops and turns to look at him.
“How did you know?”
He continues looking out at the almost endless sea of houses beneath the blue sky.
“I could say that you mumbled it in your sleep, but the truth is, it’s been on your mind for a while.”
She stalks over to him and places her hands on either side of the window frame.
“And you’re reading my thoughts again? Will you stop that?”
He lifts his head and looks at her, locking eye contact.
“Not gonna happen. I have to protect you, and knowing all possible threats are necessary to fulfill my duty.”
She frowns at him, not breaking the eye contact.
“My thoughts are private, and are not meant to be read. If you don’t stop, I’m going to keep this forever.”
She brings her left hand to caress the star ball.
Jen grinds his teeth in response to her touching it.
“You could try, but the fact remains, you won’t outlive me. And as you are the last one I have to protect, I will kill any that tries to stop me from taking it back.”
Yuki glares at him and removes her hand from the star ball to push him off the window seal. He falls to the ground, but gracefully lands. His coat tail falls back into place and he looks up at her.
“So, are you going to the movies or not?”
She makes a face at him and closes the window. She goes to the doorway and exits the room, running right into Jen.
“Ow, did you have to do that?”
Jen shrugs nonchalantly.
“Not really, but I didn’t feel like waiting hand and foot for you either.”
She glares lightly and walks ahead of him. They leave the house and begin walking to the train station.
“Are you going to walk with me there? I thought you preferred to stay out of sight.”
He continues walking next to her.
“May as well. After all, it’d do well for your social reputation if it was thought you had a boyfriend.”
She opens her mouth and tries to form words, but the sheer shock of his statement ate at her.
“Boyfriend?! Like I would ever consider going out with someone like you! You dress way too dark, you’re more of a pest than anything, and you don’t listen to a thing I say!”
He picks at his ear.
“I’m sorry, were you saying something?”
She yells in frustration and runs off towards the station. He easily keeps pace with her and smiles at her.
“I must have hit pretty close to home to have gotten such a strong reaction from you. What, do you like me or something?”
He asks, teasing her. She swings her purse at him, but it doesn’t come close to connecting.
“Why can’t you just go away?!”
He puts his arms behind his head and turns around to run backwards.
“I believe we’ve been down this road before, in both senses of the term ‘road’.”
She grinds her teeth and continues running, getting extremely irritated at him. She blinks as he suddenly disappears from sight and slows down to a stop. Looking in each direction, she doesn’t see where he had gone.
“Jen?”
Scanning the rooftops, she doesn’t see anything except a few birds perched on an electric wire. The ground shakes, and she falls to the ground. The birds fly off in a panic, afraid of what’s occurring. Yuki looks about for Jen.
“Jen!”
Is it an earthquake? The ground shakes again, but this time, she sees a large cloud of dust forming from a street away. Intrigued, and figuring Jen was somehow responsible, she runs in the direction of the cloud.
Chapter 7
Yuki stops as she passes the line of houses and is enveloped in a new cloud of dust. She coughs and closes her eyes until she feels the cloud settling. She opens her eyes back up and looks at a rather large red being wearing a tiger loincloth and wielding a very wicked club, looming over her. She backs up slowly, taking in the creatures features.
At the top of its large mane of deep red hair were two long horns. Its brow and red eyes were seething in anger, with its gaping mouth full of sharp teeth. Yuki backs up more, then turns to run as the creature reaches out to nap her with its left hand. She screams and tries to run faster, but is grabbed and picked up.
The red being looks at her curiously, then sniffs her. Its eyes widen at a familiar scent.
“Jen! That piece of SHIT! You know him?!”
The creature tightens its grip on Yuki. She yells and closes her eyes to try and shut away the pain. The grip is suddenly let go and she hears, at least she thinks she hears, the beast yell in pain. She is grabbed in mid air and set down onto the ground. Opening her eyes, she sees the back of a black trench coat.
“Jen?”
He doesn’t pay her any mind, giving the red beast his undivided attention.
“Never know when to back down, have you, Gorun.”
The other being gets up from the kneeling position Jen’s attack left him. The oni swings the massive, sharp club above its head.
“You shall die now, Jen Ide!”
The club lands with crushing force into the ground, but Jen nimbly evaded the attack and the resulting dust storm.
Yuki coughs and starts to crawl away when she is picked up. She yells and hits what grabbed her with her fists.
“Ow, I’m here to protect you, not to get attacked by you too.”
She looks and sees Jen holding her. He sets her down on the roof.
“Stay here. I’ll get you down when I’ve taken care of this fool.”
Without waiting for a response, he leaves the rooftop and goes to battle.
Yuki crawls to watch, and is amazed at the speed and strength Jen possessed. Each of the oni’s deadly attacks were easily dodged and countered with enough force to stagger or bring the oni to its knees. The red beast keeps attacking, and it seemed inexhaustible. Attacks would slightly bring it down, but it continued to get back up.
That thing is unreal. But, is it because of its strength, or because Jen isn’t that strong?
Jen growls to himself and yells out.
“I heard that! This is an oni I’m fighting, or do you not know about them as well?”
The oni takes the opportunity and swings the spiked kanabo into Jen’s face. The kitsune is sent flying into the wall of the house next to where Yuki was.
The broken pieces of the sunglasses fall to the ground. Jen wipes away the blood coming from his left cheek.
“Oh ho, so you want to play rough, do you? Don’t blame me when you’re defeated.”
Jen’s clothing falls to the ground as he changes into his real form. The kitsune growls lowly and its tails quiver lightly in anticipation.
“I hope you enjoy this.”
Fire emerges from the tips of the tails and the tails sweep back then fling forward, launching balls of fire at the oni. The fire balls slam into the creature and staggers it back two steps. It is then doubled over as the kitsune tackles it in its stomach with its blinding speed. The oni falls backwards and slowly gets back up.
“Not enough to stop me. You will pay for your past crimes, Jen.”
The oni hurls the kanabo at the fox-like creature, but misses and creates a massive hole in the wall of the house. Jen rushes forward and slams into the oni’s face, then produces a flame out of his mouth, enveloping the beast in a flash fire. Jen lands on the ground and jumps back, his tails standing up on ends in eagerness. The oni pats at its now lit mane of hair, trying to extinguish the fire.
“Damn you Jen!”
The oni smells the burnt and fried hair and growls in a rage. It rushes at the kitsune with its claws. The kitsune stands its ground and then darts forward, diving between the oni’s open legs. It leaps up and stabs the oni in the back, along its spine. The oni howls in pain and reaches back to grab the fox. Jen lets go and shoots another flame at the wounds on the beast’s back.
The scent of burned flesh begins to fill the corridor the two creatures fought in. The kitsune launches additional flames at the back of the oni, until it turns around to charge at its antagonist. The fox-like creature dodges at the last second, but is grabbed by a tail and swung around and slammed into the concrete floor. The blow knocks out the kitsune. The oni swings the kitsune into the wall of the house and then hurls it into the air.
Yuki watches as the kitsune is sent flying past her. The red beast picks up its kanabo and waits for him to come down. The kitsune opens its eyes and notices its falling towards the ground with the eagerly awaiting oni holding the kanabo. Running out of time, it projects an image to the beast. Gorun watches as the kitsune slowly makes its way down, with his head tilted upwards.
The deception worked, as Jen touched ground and the oni was still looking up. The kitsune quickly got to the beast’s back and slashed deep into its flesh. The oni screams and the illusion collapses. Another flame is let out into the more exposed muscles. The fire torments the oni and it reels away in agony. Not letting it go easily, the kitsune slashes the oni’s chest as it turns, launching off the oni’s body and throwing fire balls from his tails into the beast’s chest.
The balls crash into the tears and burn deeply into the beast. The oni screams and collapses to its knees. The kitsune allows itself a smirk.
“Had enough?”
The oni raises its head.
“Never.”
It gets up, bleeding and burned, but not having lost the will to fight. Jen’s smirk dies and he begins thinking of another way to defeat the crazed oni.
Chapter 8
Yuki lies on the edge of the rooftop and watches as the two mythological creatures stare each other down. The tails of the white kitsune quiver slightly in anticipation. The oni tightens its grip on the kanabo and then charges forward. Jen brings his head down, then brings it up as he unleashes a flame into the oni’s face.
The flames burn at the oni’s hair and it staggers back to put the fire out. The kitsune leaps and bites down on the loincloth around the oni’s pelvic bone. The cloth rips apart and the pieces start to fall to the ground. Outraged, the oni swings its kanabo towards the kitsune’s skull. The fox-like being evades the blow and smirks as the oni tries to cover itself with the tattered cloth.
“Come now Gorun, there’s no need for any form of modesty here.”
The oni gives up trying and lets the scrap join the rest of it on the ground. The oni swings horizontally at the kitsune, who again evades by leaping backwards. The white being charges forward and catches the oni on the chin, knocking it up and backwards. The ground quakes as the large beast crashes to the concrete.
The oni lies still and the kitsune walks towards it, wary of an attack. Getting close enough to check, Jen finds the oni was indeed knocked out. He extends a paw and hits the oni’s forehead.
“You’re oni!”
The kitsune smirks and changes to its human form. Jen goes to his pile of clothes and gets into them, pulling out a spare pair of sunglasses out of a pocket in the trench coat. Putting the sunglasses on, he looks up at the rooftop where Yuki is.
“Ready to go?”
She looks back at him.
“To where? The train all ready left, and there’s no way I can get to the movies now.”
Jen leaps up and lands easily on the rooftop, four feet behind her.
“You’re doubting my speed again.”
Yuki gets up and straightens her clothing after having lied on the roof for a while.
“So you’re going to carry me?”
Jen smirks.
“Got a problem with that?”
Yuki frowns lightly.
“Of course I do. I’m wearing a skirt, after all. I don’t want some pervert to go looking up it.”
Jen walks to her and lays a hand on her left shoulder.
“Is that the only thing bothering you?”
Her brow furrows in thought.
“I suppose so…”
Her eyes widen in surprise as she is suddenly whisked off her feet and pulled to his chest. The breeze picks up and her hair is sent flying in front of her face, and past Jen. As she looks back, she sees that they had all ready left the housing district.
Amazing. In a few seconds, he got us past what would have taken a train five minutes to get to.
She hears him chuckle, and looks up to see a smirk on his face.
“I told you, didn’t I?”
She glares and pushes her hair out of her eyes, keeping a hand next to her head to prevent it from blocking her vision again.
“I thought I told you to quit reading my thoughts.”
“You did, but I don’t feel a need to oblige you.”
She sulks and places her other hand to keep the skirt from flapping in the wind.
Jen stops running and looks around to get his bearings again.
“Okay, we’re pretty close to the movie theater now. Hell, we got here before the train got to the station.”
He then leaps off the rooftop of the business they stopped on into the alley between it and the business next door. Yuki reaches out and latches onto Jen’s neck and shuts her eyes at the sudden plunge.
Jen lands on his feet, the tail of the trench coat barely hovering above the surface of the concrete.
“See? No problems. There isn’t a need to hold onto me so tightly. Well, not unless it crossed your mind to kiss me.”
He adds with a tight smirk. Yuki lets go of him and slaps him hard on the cheek. He simply smiles and starts laughing.
Puzzled, she looks at him. His cheek was slightly red, but there was a redness that seemed darker. It then started to spread downwards, to which she realized that it was blood. Taking a glance at her hand, she sees a little bit on her finger tips. Jen sets her down and takes a hold of her hand, licking the blood off her finger tips. A strange sensation tingles down her spine as his tongue touched her fingers.
Jen reaches back to his cheek and wipes the blood off with the back of his hand, sucking the liquid off afterwards.
“You’re disgusting.”
Jen shrugs and starts walking to the mouth of the alley.
“It’s my blood anyways.”
After a slight hesitation, Yuki follows him out of the alley. People walk to and fro, paying neither of the two any mind. Jen takes Yuki’s hand and tugs her along through the sea of bodies.
She whines as she gets pushed past people, bumping into them and having to look back and apologize for the intrusion into their personal space. After a minute, she pulls back and demands that he stops.
“Jen, stop! Stop pulling me along and bumping into people!”
He stops and looks back at her. Even through the sunglasses, she can feel the coldness of his stare.
“We’re going to the movies, remember? It’s not our fault all these people are in the way.”
Those around them begin to pay attention.
“Is he causing you problems?”
“Are you okay, young lady?”
“Where’s a police officer?”
Jen grinds his teeth as the talks continue and Yuki doesn’t respond.
“Are you going to answer these people?”
Yuki blinks her eyes.
“Yes.”
She backs away from Jen.
“Yes, he is. Help me!”
Jen’s eyes widen in surprise.
“What!?”
He senses the people begin to glare at him.
Great, just great.
A whistle is blown and the crowd tries to part to allow the police officer through.
“Shit.”
Jen leaps into the air and onto the roof of the nearest building. The crowd gasps in shock and follow him with their eyes in stunned silence.
Yuki breathes a sigh of relief and turns to see a police officer heading to her.
“Are you okay, miss?”
Yuki nods slowly.
“Thank you, now I am, yes.”
The officer looks around.
“Where is the troublemaker?”
The only response he gets from the crowd is fingers pointing to the rooftop.
“Up there?”
They nod. The officer leans his head to the walkie-talkie on the right side of his shoulder.
“A pervert was harassing a young lady and ran onto the rooftop of the Bashito Law Firm Biru. I’ll escort the young lady home.”
The officer reaches out his hand, and Yuki takes it, then is lead away from the scene towards the train station.
“Where do you live?”
Yuki looks up at the officer.
“In the Konohana-ku ward.”
The officer nods and they come up on the train station. Yuki looks at the sign, Umeda Station. She looks back at where the Umeda Koma Theater would be and sighs, knowing she wouldn’t be able to see the movie now.
Chapter 9
The police officer stays with her the whole way back to the housing district and to her house. He stops at the door when she goes inside.
“Is one of your parents home right now?”
Yuki shakes her head.
“No. My father is at work, and my mother is overseas with her job.”
The officer nods.
“If you wish, I can stay here until your father arrives. It would be better to inform him of this incident.”
Yuki bites her lower lip.
“That’s okay. I’ll let him know when he comes home. I’ll be fine.”
The officer nods.
“All right. Call us if you ever need our help again.”
He bows and then leaves her house. Yuki closes the door and sighs.
“That didn’t turn out too well.”
“You’re damn right it didn’t.”
She turns around in surprise and sees Jen frowning at her with his arms crossed in front of his chest.
“What were you thinking pulling that stunt?”
He pushes off the wall he was leaning on and stalks towards her.
“You think the police can protect you from anything? Gorun would slaughter them all with his club in no time flat.”
He stands less than a foot away from her and leans in, glaring at her from the top of his sunglasses.
“I’m here to protect you, not obey you. I was trying to be nice and get you to where you wanted to go, but then you try and turn me over to the cops for no damn reason.”
She cringes and leans back into the wooden door, trying to get away from his gaze. Her eyes turn downward, and she feels the door shake as Jen’s hands slam on either side of her body.
“Do I have your attention?”
She looks back at him, seeing the fire in his eyes burning brighter.
“I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but stop it. I’m no pervert, so making it seem that way won’t be beneficial for you.”
Yuki closes her eyes and begins to cry, slowly sliding down the door. Jen turns around, walks a few paces, and throws his hands in the air.
“What do you want of me?! Huh?!”
He gets no reply, just more tears and sobs from her. He sighs and walks back to her, kneeling down in front of her.
“You can stop crying now.”
Yuki just continues to cry and doesn’t respond to him. He reaches out and lays a hand on her shoulder. She shies away from him. Getting slightly annoyed, he moves closer and wraps his arms around her. His voice lowers and takes a more gentle tone.
“You can stop, really. I despise what you did, but I’m still bound to my word to protect you.”
Yuki opens her eyes after a little bit and looks at him with her now red eyes.
“Why can’t you just leave me alone, like everyone else does?”
Jen touches her forehead with his, gazing into her eyes.
“Because, it’s something I must do.”
Yuki touches the star ball.
“For this? Is this the only reason you’re still here?”
Jen nods slightly.
“Pretty much, yeah.”
She blinks her eyes.
“ ‘Pretty much’? Then what’s the other reason?”
He moves his hands to the inside of her knees and her back. Effortlessly, he picks her up in his arms and pulls her to him.
“The rest is because I know you need me, almost as much as I need you to return mine.”
He starts walking towards the stairs.
“How do I need you?”
He looks at her.
“It should be obvious.”
They start to go up the stairs, and Jen remains silent. Yuki ponders his words, trying to figure how just what he was getting at. Arriving upstairs, he takes her to her room and opens the door. He walks to her desk and sets her down on the chair. Then he goes to the window and opens it, letting a light breeze enter the room.
Yuki watches him, confused and unsure of what Jen does.
Everything seems rooted in getting back his star ball. But, he mentioned that it wasn’t all of it. And that I should know what the rest of it should be.
Jen sits on the window sill, letting the breeze play with the tail of his trench coat. From her angle, it seemed that his emotionless mask had a hole in it around his eyes, where a hint of loneliness was visible.
She blinks, and it seemed that the crack never was there.
Was I just imagining that?
She bites her lip in thought and continues watching him. The breeze bends his bangs back when it blows, and lets the hair fall back into place as the breeze dies down. Mesmerized, she finds herself unable to look away.
Her eyes widen as Jen turns his head and catches her staring at him.
“Yes?”
She looks away to her desk, focusing on the paper and books on it.
“It’s nothing.”
Jen shrugs lightly and looks back out at the scenery.
“I remember when there used to be a great deal of trees here. This area was then occupied by merchants and the like, cutting away the trees to use for limber for their shops and vehicles. It seems so hollow now, devoid of all life. Few people are even here during the day, mostly just house wives and those too old to work.”
Yuki looks back at him when he started to speak of the past. She felt like she could almost see the mask he wore cracking, showing the loneliness and pain behind it.
“ ‘Progress’, they say. Just which kind of progress are they discussing? The progression to a better life, or the progression towards the extinction of life on this world? When will they realize that not everything new is good? Sometimes, it’s best to let things be as they were and not trifle with nature.”
“Right now, you seem as old as you said you were, though at other times you sure don’t.”
Jen looks back at her, his head leaning towards the right enough to let his right eye be seen above the sunglasses.
“True. I’ve just been keeping pace with you.”
Yuki feels anger rising within her.
“Oh, so I’m immature?”
Jen pushes off the window sill and falls into the room, rolling on the ground until he gets on his feet. He stands up and nods.
“Compared to me, yes.”
Yuki gets up and walks to him.
“Is that why you’re always so mean to me?”
He shakes his head.
“I’m not always mean, just when I want to spark a reaction from you.”
With that, he leaves the room, not saying where he was going. She stands there and watches him leave, still unable to comprehend him.
On top of the roof, Jen rests with his arms on his stomach. His sunglasses block the sunlight that occasionally peeks out from the moderate cloud cover.
“I wonder how long it’ll be. Shouldn’t be too much down the road.” He closes his eyes and takes a short nap.
Chapter 10
Yuki sets the ladder against the top of her house. After making sure it was settled in the ground, she climbs up it. She gets to the top of the roof and sees what she was searching for.
“Yes?”
Yuki blinks at Jen’s seemingly sleeping form.
“You’re awake?”
Jen sits up and nods at her.
“Yeah.”
She gets off the ladder and onto the roof, moving to sit next to him.
“Is this where you always disappear to?”
Out of the corner of her eye, she seems him shake his head.
“Not all the time, but quite a bit, yes.”
She looks out at the housetops around her.
“It’s been about thirty minutes.”
He takes a glance at her.
“Since I left your room?”
She nods and continues looking around.
“I haven’t really seen this before. When I did, you were carrying me away, and I barely got a look before we passed it all.”
Jen looks back at the sea of houses and nods.
“So why did you really come up here?”
She makes a light chuckle.
“I knew you would know better.”
She looks at him, trying to see his eyes.
“Just why exactly did that creature attack?”
Jen smiles slightly.
“Gorun? He’s just angry because I’ve been playing a game with him for centuries. He was in the mountains, and I leapt out and tagged him, saying ‘You’re oni!’. He ended up falling down until he got to a ledge. As he was getting up, it broke and he fell the rest of the way down. Wasn’t too happy, I’d say, but I was amused.”
Yuki tilts her head to the side.
“Why did you do that?”
Jen shrugs lightly.
“I was watching some children play a game of Tag, so I decided to play it with a real oni for amusement.”
She smiles.
“And has he ever tagged you back?”
Jen smirks.
“Nope. He’s too preoccupied trying to get back at me to realize it’s a game. As with most onis, he isn’t all that bright, though he is a brighter bulb than others that I’ve run across.”
Her eyebrow arches.
“So he wants to kill you, but you aren’t going to do anything about it?”
He shakes his head and lies back down onto the roof.
“Nah. He may have a great deal more brute force, but he lacks the creativity to develop new ways to take me on. Besides, I limited myself so there wasn’t a chance you’d be in danger.”
“You take it very seriously, don’t you.”
He nods, knowing she was talking about protecting her. He remains quiet, and Yuki leans over to check whether or not he’s asleep. She peeks behind his sunglasses and sees him looking at her.
“Yes, I am awake, thank you.”
She makes a face and lies down on the roof as well.
“You’re not going to tell your father, are you.”
Yuki looks at him.
“No.”
Jen doesn’t respond, knowing her well.
Yuki watches as the sun peeks out from behind a large puffy cloud. She covers her eyes with a hand and smiles.
“It’s a real pretty day.”
Jen shrugs lightly.
“It’s too bright. The wind needs to blow some more clouds in the way.”
She smirks and taps his sunglasses.
“Like you would know, you practically never take them off.”
Jen glares at her.
“It’s always too bright, even at night.”
He yawns lightly and closes his eyes.
“You’re going to sleep?”
He responds, though leaving his eyes closed.
“I’m resting my eyes, not drifting off to sleep.”
She shakes her head and crawls back towards the ladder.
“Right. Enjoy your nap.”
She doesn’t get a response, so she gets to the ladder and goes down back to the ground. Leaving the ladder where it was, she goes into the house and to the kitchen.
May as well eat, it’s after noon all ready.
She goes to the cabinet and pulls out a cup of noodles.
Not the best, but it’s better than nothing.
She partially opens the top and places it in the microwave. Setting the timer, she goes to the refrigerator and looks inside.
“Where is it.. Oh, right here.”
She takes out a can of apple juice. Opening it, she looks around the kitchen, feeling something was missing.
“I think what’s missing, is me.”
Yuki turns and sees Jen entering the kitchen. She glares at him.
“Quit being conceited.”
He merely smirks at her and goes to the table.
“Say what you will, but it doesn’t mean you’re right.”
Glaring more, she stops when the timer goes off.
“Oh.”
She takes the cup out of the microwave and opens it all the way, letting the built up steam to exit.
She takes the cup to the table, then goes back to get her juice and some chopsticks. Walking back, she sits down at the table on the other side of Jen. She quietly eats the cup of noodles while Jen stares at the ceiling in thought. Wiping a little bit of noodle juice off her lips, she glances at him.
“What are you thinking about now?”
He looks over at her.
“Nothing really. Just… going back into my thoughts.”
She smirks slightly.
“Well, that would be what you’re thinking of.”
He rolls his eyes at her sarcasm.
“It’s about the past, thank you. A great deal has occurred, for me, and this nation as a whole.”
Yuki nods slightly, knowing that things would have changed with the passing of time.
“Anything you’d like to discuss?”
He shakes his head and gets up from the table. She blinks and sets the chopsticks in the cup.
“Was it something I said?”
Jen shakes his head.
“No, it’s something else. Something else entirely…”
His voice drifts off and he leaves the kitchen. Yuki watches the empty space he left when he exited through the kitchen door.
“What’s going on?”
She leaves the cup of noodles and her juice behind to try and follow him.
As she gets to the other side of the door, she finds there’s no trace of him.
“He really is quick…”
Exiting the house, she goes to the ladder still propped against the house. Going up it, she doesn’t find him on the roof. A look around doesn’t reveal his location either. She sighs and goes back down the ladder to the ground. She moves the ladder back to its place beside the house and goes back in.
Arriving in the kitchen, she goes to the table to return to her lunch. She finishes the food and throws away the cup and juice can. She washes the silver chopsticks and puts them away. Seeing Jen had not returned, she went to her room.
When she gets there, she finds everything exactly where it was, which meant he hadn’t been in there. She goes to the desk and looks at the pile of papers and notes scattered on it.
“I should get everything together…”
She starts getting the desk organized, and placing some of the papers into her school bag. Looking out the window, she sighs at the loneliness.
“Where did he go?”
Yuki goes to the small boom box sitting on the top of her bookcase. Popping in a CD, she turns the boom box on and plays the CD. The sound of the pop music begins to fill the room. She closes her eyes and begins to sing along, slightly off key. Her body sways with the beat of the music and her mind begins to drift away into the song.
The tracks continue, and she begins to get tired, only mouthing the words and swaying very slightly. A light chuckle startles her and she opens her eyes, coming back to the real world.
“Your stamina is decent, though that’s way better than the sound of your singing.”
Yuki grinds her teeth and picks up a pen. She throws it at Jen, who was leaning on the door frame.
“Why did you sneak up on me again?”
He doesn’t move, as the pen misses him completely and hits the wall.
“You were busy. A crowd could have came into your room and you’d miss them if they didn’t say a word.”
Yuki glowers further.
“Oh stop making fun of me.”
Jen smiles slightly as he walks into the room.
“Bah, it wouldn’t be any fun then.”
She looks away and sits at her chair in front of the desk.
“Why don’t you go do whatever you left to do earlier?”
She tenses as his arms wrap themselves around her. She feels his breath on the back of left ear.
“Because, I’ve all ready finished with it.”
His voice was soft and made goose bumps down her neck and back.
“A..and what did you do?”
He softly smiles.
“It’s nothing of concern to you. I simply did what I must to continue to exist.”
She turns to look into his eyes.
There was a gleam of pleasure within his eyes.
“I don’t understand.”
He lightly chuckles.
“That’s all right. You don’t need to know about it, and trust me, you don’t want to know about it.”
A grin of malice appears on his lips. Yuki looks away at the few notes still on her desk. She tries to reach out to them, but finds her arms wouldn’t move.
“Can you let me go? I need to study.”
Jen realizes his hold of her, but moves his arms to encircle her waist.
“What are you doing?!”
She panics and pulls backwards, into the back of the chair. The kitsune in human flesh lightly chuckles.
“Nothing, really.”
He takes in a whiff of her and smiles.
“You really are beginning to smell like me.”
She looks up at him, her eyes wide in surprise and confusion.
“What do you mean?”
He steps back and pats her head.
“Forget about it.”
Without another word, he goes to the window and opens it up.
“The clouds are coming, and it’s getting darker. I love it when it rains. Such a wonderful scent it has.”
Yuki watches him as he sits on the window sill.
“It’s going to rain, huh?”
He nods in reply, not looking back at her.
“I’d say within an hour and a half.”
Yuki looks at the time, seeing it was almost three pm.
“Wonderful timing for the rush hour.”
He smiles at her sarcasm.
“Yes. So much like ants, people are. It’s just not as easy to crush them.”
She makes a face at his disdain for humans.
“You love to point that out, yet you’re in human form.”
Jen nods and looks back at her.
“Of course. As I am protecting you, it’d be far easier to just blend in, then it’d be for a nine tailed fox wandering with you.”
She frowns lightly, fully aware of that truth. Sighing, she turns back to her notes and studies.
The time passes, and the rain does indeed come, very close to the time Jen had stated. He closes the window so the rain wouldn’t enter the house. Yuki turns on the lamp on the desk and continues to study, stretching her stiff muscles. She lightly yells as she feels hands on her shoulders.
“Just sit still.”
She hesitates, then relaxes a little as he begins to massage her neck and shoulders.
“Sitting in one spot isn’t a good thing for your body. Even the Japanese government has realized that.”
He continues, working out the stiffness and relaxing her muscles.
“You’ve got to take better care of yourself, if you wish to live longer, anyways.”
She doesn’t say anything, except a semi conscious, incoherent muttering. He smiles to himself and keeps going, knowing how tense her body really was.
She slowly drifts into a light nap from his massage. Seeing this effect, he lightly chuckles and bends over, gently kissing the top of her head.
He whispers, “Get some rest. I’ll wake you up for dinner.”
He goes to her bed and lies on it, lost in his thoughts.
Chapter 11
Over a month passes, and there were no events that threatened Yuki’s life. Jen had gotten bored and even more sullen as he was not needed. He would continue to watch over Yuki from a distance, only allowing himself to be seen by her at the house.
One Thursday afternoon, Yuki opens her locker at school, and finds a letter had been slipped in it from one of the upward silted holes on its front. Intrigued, she opens it up. Her eyes widen at the message within the letter.
Ms. Yuki Hiroshu,
If you could, would you meet me by the trees in the back of the football field after school.
It was unsigned, but her heart was beating faster nonetheless.
A secret admirer…
She hurries and places the books she didn’t need tonight in the locker, and withdraws the few she would need to study. She pockets the letter and after closing the locker door, she hurries out of the school’s front doors. Walking to the right, she turns at the corner and sees the football field at the corner of the fenced in area.
In the back of the football field.
She tries to walk calmly, not wanting to seem overly anxious to find out who it was. The voices of boys yelling as they play football. She soon sees them, kicking the round, white and black ball back and forth towards the goals.
The trees, she notices, were outside of the fence. Not seeing a way to get through the fence, she goes back towards the front entrance to go around the fence. Finally, she gets back to the spot by the football field on the other side of the fence. A young man with unkempt black hair waits for her. His uniform is a little messed up, and she could almost see wrinkles on his sides.
He looks at her and heads towards her.
“Uh, thank you for coming out here, Ms. Hiroshu.”
He bows to her and stays bent over for a few seconds. When he comes up, his face shows a great deal of nervousness.
“I, um, was wondering if, maybe, you’d like to go to the Autumn Festival together…”
Yuki smiles to herself.
“I might consider it, if I knew your name.”
The young man stutters in confusion.
“Oh, that’s right, I haven’t introduced myself yet.”
He clears his throat and stands straight.
“My name is Koji Arimisha.”
Yuki looks at him.
“I can’t seem to place you anywhere. Where have we met? Or, at least, where you saw me.”
Koji stutters some more.
“Well, you see, I mean, what had happened was…”
She patiently waits for him to explain, on the surface at least. Inside she was wanting him to hurry up.
“A friend of mine had been in a class with you, and thought you were a really nice girl. He sort of pushed me into asking you.”
He scratches the back of his head in his uncertainty.
She smiles and lightly chuckles.
“So you don’t even know anything about me?”
The question catches the young man off guard.
“Well, not really…”
Yuki sighs lightly.
“Well, I appreciate the thought, but if you don’t know me, I’ll pass. Sorry.”
She begins to walk away when he runs to her and lightly grabs her wrist.
“Wait, please. I don’t know you, but I want to.”
Turning to look at him, she feels a frown forming on her lips.
“Why?”
A sharpness enters her voice as she begins to lose patience with him. He lets go of her wrist and takes an involuntary step back.
“I, uh, just wanted to. You’re pretty, and I heard that you’re a real nice person.”
Yuki sighs and looks away. She turns around and looks at him.
“I appreciate it, but I can’t, sorry.”
Koji’s head dips.
“Is it, because you’re seeing someone else?”
She blinks in surprise.
“Huh?”
He shifts his weight from foot to foot.
“Several guys have said that you were seen before with a guy in all black. He was rather tough looking and very dark. Some had guessed he was your boyfriend.”
Her eyes light up in anger.
They think Jen is my boyfriend? He’s going to pay for this.
She shakes her head.
“No, he’s not my boyfriend. Just the son of a friend of my father that I had to keep company when he was at work.”
Koji sighs and nods.
“All right. Well, if you change your mind, let me know.”
He starts to walk away, dejected. Yuki sighs, not wanting to have hurt the guy’s feelings, but also not wanting to be with him.
A light sound alerts her to someone behind her. She turns and sees Jen in a crouch.
“Oh, so now I’m a ‘son of a friend of my father’? I told you that a rumor of you having a boyfriend would do you good. It would have kept him away.”
Yuki grinds her teeth and glares at him.
“You’re ridiculous. It wouldn’t have helped. He still would have asked, just as he did right now.”
Jen shrugs lightly, hiding his eyes behind his shades.
“Suit yourself. So, are we going to go home now, or are you going to go after that boy and start necking with him?”
Her cheeks burn red at that.
“You’re impossible. At least he has some manners.”
Jen merely smirks.
“Oh, so you are interested in him. That’s why you’re comparing me and him, trying to see him as somehow superior to me.”
Yuki throws her hands in the air and starts walking away, in the direction Koji went. Jen arches an eyebrow and leaps into the treetops. He watches as she goes after Koji. After a few minutes, she catches up to him. She agrees to go with him, and they part, though not until after she gives him a light kiss on the cheek.
Koji walks away, his head in the clouds. Yuki simply walks away, knowing that Jen was watching her. They head back home, though Jen remains hidden from her sight. She goes straight to her room and shuts the door. Looking around to make sure he wasn’t in there, she locks it and goes to the window to lock that as well.
She goes to her desk and pulls the books out to study.
“Your poor attempts to make me jealous won’t work.”
Yuki jumps as she feels his breath touching her ear.
“Go away! I don’t want to see you.”
Jen smiles and leans against the opposite wall.
“Yes, you’d much rather see old Koji-san.”
His voice drips with sarcasm. She grabs the book she was pulling out and throws it at Jen. He sidesteps out of the way and catches it before it hits the wall.
“It won’t do to damage books that are the property of your school, right?”
She glares at him and extends her hand for the book. He places it in her hand, then pulls it out of her reach as she tries to grasp it.
“Stop it.”
He continues, each time she misses it.
“I said stop it!”
She gets up and turns to hit him, but stops as he holds the book in her face.
“Fine.”
She takes it, and he lets go of it, moving his hands away from the brown book.
A thought crosses her mind, and she reaches into her pocket, and takes out the letter Koji had written to her. She rereads it and looks at the calendar.
“The Autumn Festival starts in a few weeks.”
Jen nods slowly.
“Yes, it does. Are you seriously going to go?”
She looks at him and nods.
“Why not? I’ve heard it’s really interesting. And the shrine gardens are so pretty.”
Jen nods slowly again.
He walks to the window and unlocks it, then opens it and allows the crisp autumn air in. Yuki breathes it in, and slowly lets it out. The scent relaxes her from her annoyance. She glances towards the window, and sees him in his usual spot on the window sill. He looks out, seemingly across space and time. She catches herself staring, and goes back to her book.
Jen looks at her, then turns back to outside the house. His face turns grim, but a fire begins to form in his eyes. Letting out a sigh, he pushes himself out of the window. Yuki notices this, and goes to the window.
“Jen?”
She arrives at the window in time to see him push off the ground and fly past her window. She involuntarily falls backwards to the floor. She sighs and shakes her head.
“He’s going on the roof again.”
Yuki goes back to her seat and sits down.
“He could have just said so, instead of making me worry like that.”
Jen stands on the roof, examining his clenched fist.
“This won’t end well, I know, but I have to see this to the end. No matter the cost.”
He looks up at the clouds and sets his jaw.
“I’ll prevent it from occurring, I swear it.”
Chapter 12
The weeks pass by, and the Autumn Festival looms closer. Yuki and Koji talk together between classes, beginning to understand each other. Once they found out that they live in the same housing district, they started walking home together. The two chatted and laughed, with a quiet shadow following them unnoticed.
Yuki became aware of the fact that Jen was more distant and sullen. He rarely talked, and when he did, it was for a short time and ended as he left to be alone. The night before the festival, she decides to find out just what it is that was bothering him.
Jen doesn’t look as the ladder is leaned against the side of the house. He continues looking up at the stars, brooding. Yuki gets to the roof and looks at him lying down on the roof.
“You’ve been bad company lately, even worse than normal.”
She takes a seat next to him.
“What’s wrong?”
He remains silent, his expression still neutral.
Reaching over, she takes off his sunglasses, seeing his gaze turning to her.
“I’m awake, thank you.”
She pouts and sets the sunglasses down next to her blue skirt.
“Then what’s on your mind?”
He closes his eyes and crosses his arms over his chest.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
She smiles slightly.
“Are you jealous of Koji?”
He glares at her.
“Oh yes, I’m so jealous of your Koji-kun, I could just keel over and die from it.”
His sarcasm ending, he returns back to looking at the stars. She lightly laughs.
“I don’t know why you don’t like him. He’s a nice guy.”
Jen shrugs, not caring about the conversation.
She folds one leg of the sunglasses in and pokes his nose with the unfolded leg. He doesn’t react, so she pokes him again. He reaches out with his left hand and grabs her wrist, firm but not too tight.
“Stop it.”
She lets go of the sunglasses, and smiles as they land halfway on his face, then slide off to the roof. He releases her wrist and picks up the sunglasses with his right hand. Setting them back over his eyes, he relaxes and stares at the stars again.
Yuki lies beside him and looks at them as well.
“What are you doing up here anyways?”
After a pause, he replies.
“I’m thinking.”
She smirks.
“Then why the pause? Are you sure that’s the reason you’re up here?”
He slowly gets up and looks at her, his face showing pain.
“No. I needed to be away from you for a while.”
She blinks and looks at him.
“What? Why did you have to be away from me?”
He looks back up at the stars and sighs.
“Your presence is hindering me. I keep sensing my star ball, and it’s throwing my concentration off.”
She strokes the star ball, which has become an unconscious action to her, a sign of insecurity.
“So I’m in your way?”
He turns and regards her.
“You are not, personally. It’s just that I have the feeling I’ll need the power held within the star ball, and being around it consumes my thoughts. I need to figure out a way to work it out without using my stored strength.”
She tilts her head to the side.
“Are you thinking something will happen at the Autumn Festival?”
He slowly nods.
“I’m unsure to what end going will reach, but I will go if you do. Don’t worry about canceling it, I’ll protect you if anything does happen.”
Yuki smiles.
“I know. Would Koji be in danger, though?”
Jen shakes his head.
“No, the only ones that would be in danger would be you and I.”
“Okay. Well, in that case, I’ve decided.”
He stares at her, waiting for her to finish.
“I’ll go.”
Solemnly, he nods his head.
“As you wish.”
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